1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to reducing noise of an image sensor and, more particularly, to reducing noise of an image sensor, in which the apparatus and method generates a kernel for filtering pixels that constitute an image frame, and filtering the pixels by convoluting and normalizing the pixels using the generated kernel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there has been a remarkable development of digital camera technology and commercialization of digital cameras that provide various functions as well as high resolution. Digital cameras may be embedded in handheld digital devices such as mobile phones, notebook computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). These related art digital cameras include image sensors such as charge-coupled devices (CCDs) that capture light from a subject and convert the light into an electrical signal and complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOSes). However, using related art technology, it is difficult to prevent, at the source, noise generated when an image sensor picks up an image of a subject. Therefore, most related art digital cameras have a function for eliminating or correcting the generated noise. For high-definition images, this function is pertinent.
Related art research includes results on technologies for reducing noise. Related art noise reduction technologies include circuitry technology that passes an image signal through a low pass filer (LPF) and thus suppresses high-frequency components of the image signal, and computational technology that applies a spatial filter having a smoothing function, such as a mean value filter, to an image. However, most of these related art technologies damage properties of an original image in the process of enhancing subjective image quality, or require too much computation from digital cameras with limited resources.